It's you... Not Me

you eat too much. Yes, it is that simple.
Training has been going really well. Two weeks ago, I decided that although I'm only going for the Sprint distance at the Lake Geneva Extreme Sports Delavan Lake Triathlon (say that ten times fast), I thought I would move up to the Olympic level so that I could prepare myself better for one of the July triathlons that I plan on attending. That lasted a week. The training for running and swimming isn't all that bad. Basically, instead of running 2 mi. twice a week and then 3 mi. on the weekend, it would be 4 mi. twice a week and 5 mi. on the weekend (eventually moving to six or seven mi. on the weekend). Swimming required roughly 1/3 more laps in the pool - not too bad considering I am not even close to following the distance schedule (I'm either way over or under on any given day) because I'm trying to dramatically improve my technique in hopes of simply getting faster because of swimming more efficiently (and not spending so much of my energy fighting my own body). The bike training was where I had to throw in the towel. I can do 20 mi. in around an hour (not going all out and giving myself some extra time for either a strong headwind or technique training), but when you get to the 25-30 mi. per session range (which the Olympic training requires), it becomes too long on those days where I have doubles (swimming in the morning and riding at night). So, I've decided to split the difference (somewhat) and try for the distances, but not beat myself up if my schedule didn't permit or my body.
Regardless of this revelation, though, I'm having a hell of a time because I simply feel like I weigh too much. This is more psychological than physical because I was heavier last year and it didn't seem to bother me as much. But now that I've decided to give up the weightlifting/bodybuilding bulk, running with 200 lbs on my frame is simply too much. After the training began, I expected to see a difference in weight within two weeks, but my appetite is simply not letting me get there. The fact is that regardless of how much my mind says I need the food, it is obvious I'm eating too much and won't be able to really see some training differences until another 10 lbs comes off (my goal for the season is between 15 & 20 lbs. by September and then hover around the 180 lbs mark until I decide to do something beyond the Olympic triathlon). I'm amazed at how many excuses we (I'm including myself) come up with when complaining about weighing too much, but not doing enough about it. I have a stressful job and I guess that is one of my excuses for liking the food - but it is just that, an excuse.
So, here's to slowly cutting some more calories out of the diet and dropping 5 more pounds before June. We'll see.

J & J did it. They beat us to the punch and brought a beautiful new life into the world - and we couldn't be happier for them. Carter M H was born around 5:30 am on May 6th, 2006 (five six oh six). It is awesome to see our best friends become parents for the first time. I already have a bundle of nieces and nephews to boot, but this experience was still a special one for me. It is hard to explain - my brothers are eight and ten years older than me, so while we all get along and have relationships that I consider to be tight in their own right, the baby of my friend is a type of life marker, telling me that another life stepping stone has arrived. And things are about to change in a big way. No more just bitching about S or J not wanting us to go out running or the convenient, "I gotta' get home man, S is mad enough at me for never being around..." Now, we enter the age of, "I need to take care of the kid," and eventually, "naw, sorry, can't do that, got a soccer/baseball/football game to go to..." Its not just about us - it'll be about someone else - and an important someone else.
They're nervous. They needn't be - they'll be awesome - and that is something Carter can bank on.

The thing which differentiates and elevates us above nature allgemein is that we build, we change, we alter, we believe, we test, we explore, we do. This weekend has been a reminder to me of how powerful the human spirit and mind are. Between the birth of a new member to my family and being witness to the First Communion of my niece, I'm amazed in our ability to believe and to evolve - sometimes in a split second. J & J were afraid about having a child... E was afraid of how she'd do on her piece of the mass... All three (with the fourth added) succeeded and were changed through their success in ways we will never fully understand. I walk away from weekends like these realizing how powerful having children in ones midst can be. I think of aging populations in countries such as Japan or even Germany (where the death rate is outpacing that of births) and wonder what type of subtile impact that has on the morale of a culture. Even ours will be impacted by this change - and the real question is how. I know through times like this weekend, though, that that change will be serious and the impact potentially fatal.

Swimming without the aid of gills is a royal pain in the ass. I'm struggling with breathing and stroke patterns in the water and it is frustrating me from a number of angles. Once I finally feel like I have a breathing pattern going that allows me to swim efficiently, I simply run out of air. There is a technique I'm trying to train with to increase my ability to go for more strokes without breathing - three strokes, breath; five strokes, breath; nine strokes, breath. By the end I feel like quitting. I also was trying to go five strokes, breath, but couldn't do that for more than 50 yards. I feigned taking lessons for anything sports related when I was young. I thought I was too good, or that I already had the experience necessary so that training was simply a waste of time. Between my recent business experiences and little ones I'm learning in the pool, on the sidewalk and on the bike, I'm really starting to realize that coaches are a good thing and that doing it right takes the help of a master. This is a paradigm for me. I always thought that coaches/teachers helped those who couldn't figure things out on their own (outside of mastering a difficult discipline in a short amount of time, like physics or biology), but that is so very naive that I can't believe it came from my own mind.
I wish I had learned to swim from a swimmer as a child. If I had, I wouldn't be fighting my own body in the water. Instead, I'd be able to focus on fighting or competing against those next to me.